Sunday, May 28, 2017

Chicago II (5/28/2017)

Sunday, May 28, 2017
After checking out of the hotel and having a light breakfast from the Corner Bakery Café, we took an architectural tour on the Chicago First Lady river cruise line. With a docent from the Chicago Architecture Foundation, we learned quite a bit about Chicago and its history.

Horses of Honor, each painted by an artist and each honoring
an individual police officer who lost his/her life in the line of duty;
this horse honors Sgt Alane M Stoffregen, is sponsored by
Chicago First Lady Cruises, and was painted by Mimi Zaphiratos 
In 1673, the Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette expedition traveled along the Chicago River, looking for a passage from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. The area was claimed for France, but was ceded to Great Britain after the French and Indian War. It was then ceded to the United States after the American Revolutionary War.
In the 1780s, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable built a farm and trading post near the mouth of the Chicago River. The N Michigan Avenue Bridge over the Chicago River is named DuSable Bridge in honor of the "founder" of Chicago.
The steps leading to the Chicago First Lady boat landing were located at N Michigan Avenue and E Wacker Street, on the site of the 1803 Fort Dearborn. The settlement that grew around the fort was organized as the Town of Chicago in 1833, and was incorporated as a city in 1837. As a transportation hub, the city grew rapidly. The Great Chicago Fire in 1871 destroyed most of the city's wooden buildings, leaving a third of the population (100,000 of 300,000) homeless. As Chicago rebuilt, they used more modern constructions of steel and stone, including the world's first skyscraper (at 10 stories) in 1884 (now demolished).
Carbide and Carbon Building (1929), designed by the
Burnham Brothers in Art Deco style, now a
Hard Rock Hotel; noted for real gold leaf accents
Wrigley Building (1919-1925), designed by Charles Beerman, of Graham,
Anderson, Probst & White, in French Renaissance and Spanish Revival
styles, and the clock tower was inspired by the Seville Cathedral's
Giralda Tower in Spain; a skywalk connects two buildings
London Guarantee and Accident Building (1922-1923),
designed by Alfred S Alschuler in Beaux-Arts style
with classical features; in front is the McCormick
Bridgehouse Museum in one of the bridge tender
houses of the DuSable Bridge (1917-1920) designed
by Edward Bennett, also in Beaux-Arts style
Several streets in this area are multi-level; here Wacker Street is on
 three levels, the lower levels meant for commercial and delivery traffic;
they create another challenge for tourist drivers!
 35 E Wackers Dr/Jewelers' Building (1924-1926),
designed by Thielbar and Furgard; and Giaver and
Dinkleberg in Art Deco style with classical
embellishments,  and Kemper Building (1960-1962)
designed by Shaw, Metz and Associates
The Jewelers' Building once had an elevator for autos so that the jewelers could go securely straight to their offices, and it is rumored that during Prohibition, Al Capone ran a speakeasy in the restaurant under the dome.
Marina City (1964-1967, Mid-20th Century Modern),
designed by Bertrand Goldberg Associates as a
mixed use city-within-a-city; each apartment is
shaped like a slice of pie
Marina City, with the lower levels being a parking garage,
and including a marina as well as shops and restaurants
Leo Burnett Building (1989, Post-Modern), designed by
Kevin Roche-John Dinkeloo and Associates; note
vertical steel bars that divide the windows,
referencing "Chicago windows"
"Chicago windows" originated with the First Chicago School of architecture as a way to bring in more light and allow natural ventilation. Generally they had a large center pane of glass flanked by two smaller double-hung sash windows.
77 W Wacker (1992, Post-Modern),
designed by Ricardo Bofill,
with Greek architectural touches
LaSalle Wacker Building (1929-1930), designed by
Andrew N. Rebori of Rebori, Wentworth, Dewey
& McCormick, in Art Deco style
The docent referred to the building as resembling an armchair, which was a response to Chicago ordinances that required the tallest part of the building to be set back from the edge of the property, so that light was not blocked for neighboring buildings.
OneEleven (2005-2014, Contemporary), designed by
Gary Handel of Handel Architects LLP, was actually a
retrofit of an abandoned building project begun in 2005;
the cut-outs in the façade are supposed
to show the flow of the Chicago River
Wells Street Bridge (1922, double leaf bascule) is one of the several
double-deck bridges that cross the Chicago River,
carrying the elevated trains on the upper deck (KSS)
225 W Wacker (1985-1989, Post-Modern), designed by
William Pedersen of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates;
with turrets, a pediment resembling a bridge,
and an urn (at the base of the large expanse of glass
below the "bridge") as a reference to Frank Lloyd Wright
333 Wacker Dr (1979-1983, Post-Modern), designed by
William Pedersen of Perkins + Will,
imitating the curve of the Chicago River
150 North Riverside (2015-2017, Contemporary),
designed by Jim Goettsch of Goettsch Partners,
where the design allows the building to fit in a
restricted space, especially since Chicago decrees
that waterfront development must set aside a
part of the lot for a public park
River Point (2013-2017, Contemporary), designed by
Pickard Chilton, with a 1.5 acre public park and
a continuation of the Riverwalk
Fulton House (1898, converted to a cold storage
warehouse in 1908), designed by Frank Abbott,
and renovated 1979-1981 by Harry Weese and
Associates; since originally there were no windows,
150 windows were punched through during renovation
It appears they are painting the building a brick color.
River Cottages (1990, Post-Modern), designed by Harry Weese
and Associates, are nautically themed townhouses, and
one of the first river side developments to face the river
Erie on the Park (2002), designed by
Lucien Lagrange Architects, is an example of a
building with an exo-skelleton; note the brick
building in front has a water tank on the roof -
once a requirement in fire-savvy Chicago
600 W Chicago (1908, the former Montgomery Ward Catalog Warehouse)
and One River Place (1929, the former Montgomery Ward Administration
Building), both designed by Richard E. Schmidt and Hugh Garden
of Schmidt, Garden and Martin
The former warehouse has elements of
Prairie- style architecture; it is now mixed use
The former administration building had
balconies added during renovation into condos
A statue of The Spirit of Progress tops a
corner tower of the former administration building;
note the W Chicago Avenue Bridge tender house
To be continued.

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